


Before The Stars Fall

by pedgy



Category: Day6 (Band)
Genre: Apocalypse, Gen, dopil if you squint really hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 07:39:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12360819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pedgy/pseuds/pedgy
Summary: Life is pretty shit.Dayeong decides this the day scientists announce the end of the world. She isn’t usually one to swear but she also figures this situation calls for a bit of cussing because someone (her) drowning in student loans and failing grades should not have to worry about an apocalypse right now.Alternatively,at the ends of the earth, Dayeong finds a family.





	Before The Stars Fall

Life is pretty shit.

Dayeong decides this the day scientists announce the end of the world. She isn’t usually one to swear but she also figures this situation calls for a bit of cussing because someone (her) drowning in student loans and failing grades should not have to worry about an apocalypse right now.

It happens on the 9th of October, 6:43 pm on BBCnews and immediately after the big reveal, the world descends into chaos. Almost all the university students are gone come morning - including Dayeong’s roommate - but after running through her morning routine, Dayeong is still sitting in the dorm with nothing packed and no home to go to. For a few hours, she contemplates leaving too and striking out on her own but comes to the conclusion that whatever is left of life will be better with a bed and a roof over her head.

She never liked change anyway.

(Which is pretty dumb considering how everything was changing)

-

That night, Dayeong lies awake in her dorm room, listening to the riots downstairs and hoping that the acrid smoke is all that will reach her when the people begin to set fires in protest. She wishes that she had stocked up on more instant ramyeon because her reserves are running low (a problem she never thought she’d run into) and when you have nothing to do, eating is a great source of entertainment.

To keep her thoughts off of food, Dayeong decides to do a little bit of exploration. After wandering the halls for ten seconds she finds a fellow straggler, a sophomore named Kang Younghyun, who insists on being called YoungK. He stays two rooms away from her and looks vaguely familiar, like he’s part of a memory created when she was drunk and stumbling into her own room.

Their first conversation consists of YoungK asking her if she has enough food and she’s sold.

The same night, raiders come. Dayeong and YoungK sit in the laundry room behind a stack of laundry baskets and hold each other, trembling as gunshots ring beyond the metal doors and the desperate fight the desperate. When it’s over, Dayeong pretends she can’t see YoungK’s red eyes in the dim light from the flames below.

She’s glad he does the same.

-

When the raid is over (they hope), the two creep out and find another student, lying on the floor, life bleeding out of the gunshot wound in her arm. Dayeong tries to use what she’s learnt in her degree to stop the bleeding but after studying medicine for a year, she also knows that unless Jiwon receives a blood transfusion, she isn’t going to make it.

YoungK only needs to look in her eyes before he begins singing a soft lullaby. It’s about flowers and honey and big green meadows and it’s all Dayeong needs for more tears to fall onto her trembling hands as she ties the makeshift bandage tighter around Jiwon’s wound. YoungK’s calming voice fills the hallway and Dayeong would have enjoyed it if, well, if it had been any other time than right now.

When it’s all over and Jiwon’s eyes stare at nothing, YoungK gently closes them, wipes his own and folds Jiwon’s arms neatly over her body. Dayeong carefully wipes the blood of her hands and lets herself be helped up by YoungK. They stumble down the hallway holding hands like two weary wartime survivors.

They sort of are, except they aren’t gonna be survivors in a week.

-

The next person they meet stays alive, thank goodness. His name is Kim Wonpil and he has a bruised rib, a black eye and a bullet wound on his calf. Dayeong cleans the graze and bandages it after YoungK finds the final remaining first aid kit on the fifth floor, but can’t prescribe anything for the ribs except for rationed painkillers. It results in a lot of lying down and wincing on Wonpil’s part but he somehow manages to keep a smile on.

“반드시 웃는다,” says YoungK when Dayeong mention’s the every-present quality of Wonpil’s smile. “Sounds like a love song.”

It’s so ridiculous that for what feels like the first time in forever (although it’s only been a few days), Dayeong laughs, the sound bubbling out of her chest, into the uncertain atmosphere and soon, YoungK joins in. Wonpil’s laughter is stuck on his face, for fear of aggravating his injuries even more.

Dayeong cannot, for the life of her, figure out what’s funny about YoungK’s words, except that they are and some things just can’t be helped.

-

Dayeong finds Jae the same day YoungK finds Sungjin. Jae is loud, slightly obnoxious, and all things considered, a complete meme. Sungjin is practical, seems to know what he’s doing and is the epitome of the mom friend. Dayeong is glad for their presence because Sungjin is just what their ragtag group needs to survive and once when Jae finds her hugging her knees, staring at the stars on the rooftop, he pats her on the back, goes back down, and doesn’t breathe a word of it to the other members.

-

A few days pass, as do a few raids. The small group spends these attacks in the boiler room, it’s decrepit state explaining a lot about the lack of hot water in the dorms.

They hold on to each other and pray. Jae actually has a god to pray to and the rest of them don’t so they just pray to whoever is willing to listen.

-

In the morning, Sungjin says, “ We need food and water.”

It’s obvious enough, but he’s the only one brave enough to think about it. Still, now that the sentiment is out there and heartily agreed upon, the rest of the crew have to think about it too. With all the raids, there is no food left in the dorms except for the one bowl of ramyeon that everyone is currently sharing, so they cautiously step out of the dorm and look for the nearby convenience store.

Dayeong clings onto YoungK, who clings onto Jae, who clings onto Wonpil, who clings onto Sunjin, who is leading his motley crew into the convenience store with it’s one flickering light. There, they find a grand total of two bottles of peanut butter in storage and two crushed bottles of water. It’s definitely not enough, so they’re going to have to look for more. Even Wonpil’s smile seems to be wavering as they slowly weave their way around the empty aisles.

That’s when a new figure appears.

The stranger has a mop of black hair on his head and looks a bit like a puppy. Everyone freezes.

“Who are you?” his voice is surprisingly deep and echoes in the empty closeness of the store.

Nobody says a word until something in Dayeong’s head clicks.

“Dowoon?”

The man, Dowoon, stiffens. Ten seconds of tense silence passes before he finally responds, just that his response can’t come quick enough and Dayeong has already tackled him to the ground.

As it turns out, Dayeong and Dowoon grew up in the same elementary, middle, and high school but hadn’t seen each other since graduation. He had come to Seoul to visit his aunt and was now stuck in its ruins, fighting for his own survival. The reunion is cut short by the sirens signalling the 4 pm curfew that the government uselessly tried to impose.

On the spur of a moment, Dayeong asks Dowoon where he’s staying - in his aunt’s old complex, Wonpil comments that it can’t be safe - yeah, Dowoon is afraid robbers will come soon, and Sungjin invites Dowoon and his aunt to stay with them in the dorm, where there is some safety in numbers and an old boiler room - his aunt isn’t around anymore but sure.

Which is how Dowoon, and the week’s worth of food he has stored in the house ends up in the boiler room. Problem solved.

-

The final few days of their lives pass is relative peace. There are spats between Wonpil and Jae and the awkwardness of old acquaintances is painfully obvious between Dayeong and Dowoon but all things considered, everyone gets along well enough.

-

There’s one more night before they sky will come crashing down so the obvious thing to do is host a party. They bring out the food they’ve been saving and the one can of beer they have. It’s all a bit pathetic but what they don’t have in substance, they make up for in spirit.

Party games are played, secrets are shared and Jae proves himself to be a total lightweight, somehow getting drunk on the one can of beer he drinks during truth or dare. Sungjin and YoungK sing through the night and at some point, Dowoon’s hand finds its way into Wonpil’s. Dayeong sits and enjoys the small family she has found at the very ends of the earth.

They learn that Sungjin loves dancing, and Wonpil plays the keyboard. Jae doesn’t actually need his glasses, and Dowoon has a little dog called Tory at home. YoungK writes poetry and Dayeong has been tossed around from foster home to foster home since age two.

Dayeong also learns that if they could, they would form a band with each other and go busking on the streets of Korea. She doesn’t play an instrument of her own but she would give anything to watch them perform.

So many dreams. Less than twenty-four hours.

-

That night, Dayeong cries, one last time, for the time she won’t have with them.

-

D-Day dawns bright and clear, the final sunrise seen on earth. The sun’s rays reflect off Jae’s pretentious fake glasses and Wonpil’s real ones. YoungK lies flat on the rooftop floor, flanked by Dowoon. Sungjin sits cross legged as Dayeong basks not just in the sun’s rays, but the feeling of belonging that she had unknowingly longed for her whole life.

-

16th October, 6:43 pm

Jae, Wonpil, Dowoon, YoungK, Sungjin. Everyone sits together, in a line, on the edge of the rooftop facing east, where the stars will fall. They all stink and their stomachs ache with unfulfilled wants but who cares? The world is ending.

Dayeong pushes open the door softly and pads over. The image is such a strange but comforting one that she can’t help but smile. Five boys that have wormed her way into her heart in less than a week,

She squeezes herself in between Dowoon and YoungK and looks up at the sky. In 2 minutes, the stars will fall and she will most likely be dead but for now, she thinks, life is pretty great.

-

_“This just in. Scientists predict that there will be a deadly meteor shower on the 16th of October at 6:45 pm KST. It will be like millions of stars falling from the sky, all at once. Beautiful but deadly, it will wipe out all life on earth. Civilians are advised to stay calm and avoid leaving their house. The UN is…”_

_~ News report on BBCnews, 9th October, 6:43 pm_

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first ever fic acceptable enough to post. i wish i could have written it better but i figured i never would so why not post it. also i recently got into kpop and don't understand much of korean culture so this is definitely not factually accurate lol. low-key inspired by Before the Stars by Naladot - basically the title inspired me and basically inspired the rest of this fic. their fic is really nice so go read it!!  
> feedback is very welcome (yes pls i need to improve).


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